


The Professor's Universe

by Lady_of_Mischief



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-08-01 21:29:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16292156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_of_Mischief/pseuds/Lady_of_Mischief
Summary: A professor at college has no social life other than, well, college. Until one day she runs over someone who calls himself the Doctor. That day the world needs saving, and well, he shows her a different way of living, only to disappear on her later that night. She changes her life after him, helps people, travels when she can, and socializes. And then one day, he returns.Sad, and mostly broken.They travel for a while, a good long while, and then she has him drop her back off on earth to enjoy her regular life.And when he returns, more than one thing has changed.And she's not sure she can be with a man who changes his face so easily.





	1. Chapter 1

"Make sure you know the difference between the hyphen, en dash, and em dash!" The students filed out of the room before she could finish her sentence, leaving her to an empty lecture room. "There will be a test next week." She says to herself and begins to collect her belongings slowly, methodically even, preparing the room for the next professor.  
She hears footsteps begin to slow and get louder as they near her room, but she pays no mind to it until it's too late.  
"Oh, good," He pants, breathless. "Caught ya just in time." She looks up and sees that the Dean of the college is standing in her doorway, hands grasping the sides of the door.  
"Sir?" She's shocked by his visit, and even more so by his untidy appearance. "You alright?" He holds up a finger as he catches his breath and then makes his way over to her.  
"May I ask you a rather odd question?" She chuckles as she moves a piece of fallen hair behind her ear, and then gets back to putting her belongings in a bag.  
He watches her move that strand out of her face. That dark, cherry red hair, so curly, so soft looking. The only thing he wanted in the world was to run his hands through it, but alas he couldn't, at least not yet.  
He had to work to get to that opportunity, for now, he had to control himself, make himself look like a gentleman until he could get close enough to her.  
"I will always welcome questions, but weird ones, well those are my specialty." She zips her bag closed and slides her phone into a side pocket.  
"How about dinner? Say tonight around six-thirty, seven o'clock?" He leans against the desk, as she fiddles with her bag, doing her best to ignore him.  
Frankly, she wasn't interested; she never would be.  
"As tempting as that offer is, I'm afraid I will have to decline. I have papers to grade." She slings the strap over her shoulder and walks out of the room with the Dean at her side, and locks the door behind her.  
"Oh, now, Aella, you have to take a break sometime. Enjoy your life while your still young, kinda thing."  
"I am perfectly content with my life now, thanks for asking. I'll see you around, sir." She hurries away from him and towards her car.  
Besides the soft music playing in the background, her drive was quiet. As usual.  
The wipers were on, trying to keep the heavy falling rain off her windshield so that she can see the road in front of her.  
A storm had moved in the other day, and it hadn't stopped raining since. A continuous downpour for almost two days.  
A flash of lightning turns everything white, and she can't see the road for a few seconds and drives by faith.  
It clears and all of a sudden a man is lying in the middle of the road.  
She barely has time to react, slamming on the car brakes, she jerks the wheel, causing it to come skidding sideways to a stop.  
Her heart rate is beating, beginning to come flying out of her chest, and she's gripping the steering wheel so hard her knuckles are turning white.  
Seconds pass, and the tension in her body releases and she's able to process what just happened.  
And like the bolt of lightning, she's out of the car and kneeling next to the man dressed in proper eighteen-hundred clothes, stop-watch and all.  
"Sir?" She shakes him but doesn't get a response. "Sir!" She gives him a light slap on the face, and he bolts right up, and she falls on her butt crawling back, frightened by his reaction.  
"Well, alright then." He shakes his head rapidly a few times and looks to her. "I'm the Doctor, who are you?" He holds out his hand, and she slowly takes it, and they shake.  
"Professor Black, at your service, sir."  
"No. Just Doctor, not sir, not affiliated with the military, me." He has a British accent, far off from here in the state of Arizona. A place where the country bumpkins and white trash lived.  
"Right." She stands, and he follows her lead. "I take it your not from around here, can I possibly give you a ride somewhere?"  
"Where am I?" He asks, looking around getting his bearings.  
"How d'ya mean?"  
"What planet am I on?" She squints her eyes and cocks her head a little.  
"Earth..." She trails off.  
"Rightly so, Not England then?" She shakes her head no and fiddles with the keys in her hands.  
"Nowhere close. You drunk, friend?" He gives her a grin that reaches his eyes, causing crinkles at the corners.  
"Nah, just got a new body, the brain isn't functioning like it normally does, give me a day and I'll be fantastic."  
"Yeah, listen, why don't you just come with me, and we'll get that head of yours checked."  
"Fine with me, just no hospitals, I'd end up a science experiment." He's still grinning, and it bothers her. No one should be that happy after they've been laying out in the middle of the road.  
"No, hospitals here are crap, I have basic training in first aid. Come back with me and let me fix you up." She unlocks the car, heading towards the driver's side and he follows suit, only he goes to the passenger side and climbs in.  
She starts the car and reverses it slowly, making sure that she doesn't hit anyone behind her.  
"How'd ya end up in the middle of the road then?" The intonation in her voice almost makes her sound properly British, and the strange man who calls himself the Doctor was curious.  
Where did he come from, and why was she so willing to help him?  
“Not sure, regenerated and then here I was with you?”  
“Regenerated?” She turns a corner and pulls up to an apartment complex and parks the car.  
“Yes.” He says it like she should know it, know exactly what he’s talking about. But she doesn't, she’s clueless.  
“Care to elaborate?” He looks out the window and observes the weather.  
“How long has it been raining??” He opens the door and steps out looking out at the sky.  
“Almost two days now I think, does it matter?” She gets out of the car after she turned it off, and grabbed her bag from the back seat.  
“It always matters.” The click of her heels pull the strange man out of his thoughts and follows her to the third floor and into her flat.  
She flips the light switch on and sets her keys on a tray and her bag on the floor, and closes the door behind them.  
“Take a seat, make yourself at home.” She walks into the kitchen as he walks into the living room and looks through her magazines and books, rummaging around her room. “You want anything to drink, coffee, tea, soda?”  
“Fine, thanks.”He takes a seat on her couch and props his feet up on the coffee table.  
She lived in a lovely little apartment, quaint, simplistic even.  
There wasn’t much here, no pictures of families, or holiday cards, just furniture like a sofa, and coffee table, and the necessities.  
Even her magazines were sorted and organized now that he thought about it.  
She didn't seem to live her life as most do with apartments and houses, in fact, she probably only slept here, and cooked if necessary.  
He turned his head to watch her in the kitchen, everything she did was robotic and methodical, pre-thought out and planned.  
It was like she was on auto-pilot but trying to lose herself in auto-pilot too.  
She can't have very many friends or be close to them. There was nothing here. Not really.  
It looked like it was out of one her magazines. Professional.  
No one was ever really that organized, right?  
Then again, this apartment didn't feel lived in.  
Too clean, too new, and too bright.  
And she was alone.  
She sits across from him in a black leather chair, holding a cup of something hot in her hands, and she slowly takes a sip.  
"So, where are you from?" She says, and takes another sip of whatever it was, and closes her eyes, enjoying the steaming hot liquid.  
"Gallifrey."  
"Right, okay, so somewhere not America?" She opens her eyes and raises an eyebrow in his direction.  
"Somewhere not earth." She pulls the mug away from her lips and holds the cup away from her body as she looks down to the floor, blinks a few times, and then looks back up to him.  
"How hard did you hit your head out there?" He grins at her, and then the room turns purple.  
The Doctor turns around in his seat to see the sky being light up in a bright purple sky.  
"Do you get hurricanes here?" He gets up and goes to look out the window.  
"No, we're landlocked." She takes another sip from her mug and revels in its warmth, The perfect ending to a rainy day.  
"Then why is your sky purple?" SHe looks up, and he's right, the sky is a brilliant purple, and the clouds are pale pink in comparison to the atmosphere.  
"I've never seen something so beautiful before." The Doctor scoffs and rolls his eyes.  
"You humans always think like this, that the more life-threatening, the prettier it is?" She gets up and approaches the window, standing next to him.  
He was radiating heat, and she could tell that wasn't good.  
"Maybe I should check you out, I can feel the heat radiating off of you-" She sets her mug down and lifts the back of her hand to his cheek, and as soon as her hand makes contact with his cheek he backs up.  
She touched him. Why? There was no need, he was fine, he'd need a nap later, but for now, there was a mystery to solve, and he wasn't about to let his regeneration get in the way.  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to touch you." He looks down at her and grins.  
"You up for an adventure?" He grabs her hand and pulls her along to the door.  
"Wait, no, I'm not...." She tried to protest, but he never heard it or at least acknowledged it.  
This man that she almost ran over, that she for some reason brought into her home for no apparent reason, and he was taking her out for an "adventure."  
She wasn't happy, she had a ton of papers to grade, and they needed to get done.  
But here he was, flipping tables, turning the tide, and she was lost when it came to him.  
He was so...weird, but he was also kind. And at the moment that's all that mattered.


	2. Chapter 2

Running, she was running. Running with a man who was half bonkers and brand new. He was, after all, still a stranger.

 

Here she was, running with some strange man who she found in the middle of the street, and this was nowhere near comfort zone, not one bit.

 

She's done this before, somewhere long ago. Another life, perhaps? Dejavu? She was in this exact position with another man, years ago, but it was more like a dream than a memory.

 

“Skies don't turn purple unless there's a hurricane, and since you say you're landlocked, that means something else is going on here.” She rolls her eyes and scoffs.

 

“Or some stupid college kids doing a science experiment.” He stops dead in his tracks and walks up to her, his full height towering over her five-foot-three stature, and his stormy blue eyes are searching her bottle green ones.

 

“You lot, you all just love to ignore the possibility that it's something more, and just toss it up to college kids or the government, without a second thought.”

 

“Yes, because we get called crazy, or conspirators.” She shoots back.

 

“And what's wrong with that, better to be second-guessing than blind?”

 

"Is it? Why would we want to face the cold hard truth when we can ignore the facts and live in oblivion? Why leave the comfort of your home?” There was sadness in his eyes after she said home, she saw it, it didn't go unnoticed. He looked away from her eyes, and over her head almost like his home was just behind her.

 

Sadness, pain, regret, all of those emotions were radiating off of him right now, and she could feel them.

 

“Doctor? You alright?” He looks back down to her and smiles, not one his eye touching grins, but a sweet, pure smile.

 

“Fantastic! Come on” And they run again.

 

They run to a worn down area of the town, and he slows down to a walk.

 

“Something wrong?” He looks around, trying to find something, but it's missing whatever it is.

 

“It moved.” He pants and turns around.

 

“What?”

 

“It's gone.” She shoves her cold hands in her jacket and looks up to him.

 

“What's gone?”

 

“I don't know, but whatever it was it should have been here.”

 

She's had it with him; he's cryptic and unclear, and, well, to be frank, entirely off his rocker.

 

“Right, okay. I've had it. What prank are you pulling?”

 

“No prank, swear.”

 

“Then I need answers! You pulled me along into this half drunk world of your, I have papers to grade, and you've answered none of my questions, you avoid them or change the subject, and I feel like I'm losing my mind” She's freaking out, and one hand escapes from her pocket, and she runs it through her hair, pulling clumps of hair out.

 

She's not fond of doing something without an explanation, and that's what she's been doing, something, without an explanation.

 

Her mind was in a frenzy, unable to think or process what was going, leaving her confused and lost, and mostly scared.

 

She's at a loss, and against her better judgment, she walks up to the shops and nestles herself safely under the overhang.

 

She was soaked to the bone, entirely and utterly wet, and cold.

 

She has papers to grade, and she wants to go home. She wants her hot cup of tea, a blanket, and her essays. It was perfect with the rain coming down as hard as it is, but she was yanked from the comfort of her apartment and thrown into this strange man's life.

 

He watches her walk away, and there's remorse.

 

This gorgeous woman went out of her way to help him, she was kind and generous, and she didn't have to be, but she was, and he gave her nothing return.

 

Not a single thank you or answer of a question, or an explanation.

 

He kind of just expected her to go along with everything, and she wasn't going along with it, she wasn't even remotely okay with what they were doing, and she probably didn't trust him.

 

Serves him right though, not everyone is willing to go along with a madman in a blue box and be perfectly fine with unanswered questions.

 

He follows her lead and meets her under the overhang.

 

“What do you want to know?”

 

“Your name, real proper name, please.” She was polite.

  
“The Doctor.” She rolls her eyes.

 

“Yeah, okay, but Doctor whom?”

 

“Just the Doctor.” She nods as though she's been defeated, and presses her lips together.

 

“Okay, just the Doctor. You mentioned a regeneration, a new brain, explain that.” She pulls her hands out of her pockets and rubs them together and blows on them, tiring to warm them up.

 

“I'm not human, I'm from a planet called Gallifrey, I'm a Time Lord, the last of my kind, and when we die, we have this way of cheating death. It's called regenerating, we're able to change our bodies, it's a complete rewrite.”

 

“Oh my god, you're an alien.” He grins. “So this proper gentlemen get-up from the eighteen-hundreds, you gonna keep wearing that?” His smile fades, and he looks almost offended by her comment.

 

“Oi, it's not like I got a chance to change, T.A.R.D.I.S through me out.”

 

“What?” Her eyes go big.

 

“T.A.R.D.I.S, my spaceship.” She sighs. The fact that she believes him, taking him for his word and not walking away calling the cops is a new development. He sounds mad, and she trusts his word.

 

“Right, well, let's get you a change of clothes. Otherwise, you'll be sticking out like a sore thumb.” She looks around, and she can see an old run down store that sold clothes for cheap, an old thrift shop really, but good stuff none the less. “Come on, the store on the end of the street should give you something for cheap.” She heads that direction, but he grabs her wrist and pulls her back.

 

“No money, me.” The spacing between them is slightly intimate, and she's almost uncomfortable with it. Almost.

 

“An alien without earth money, go figure.” She rolls her eyes and grabs his hand. “Come on; I'll pay.” And he has no choice but to follow her.

 

Had she known that it was going to take him more than fifteen minutes to decide on clothes, she would have never suggested the idea to him, but here she was, sitting in a chair, making idle talk with the storekeeper, while he rummaged on through the clothes.

 

“How much longer is he gonna be?” The storekeeper asks, and she shrugs and then slowly gets up to try and find him. He was picky about his clothes.

 

“Doctor? Everything going okay back there?” He comes out of the dressing causing her to jump, and he's in nothing but his white poet's shirt and pants.

 

“America doesn't have excellent clothes.”

  
  
“Whatever. Listen, I found some black pants and a purple shirt if you want to try it on.” She holds the items out to him, and he grabs them and heads right back into the dressing room. “So, why did you think something would be here?”

 

“I had a hunch.”

 

“A hunch? We're basing everything off of a hunch you had?” She finds a chair just outside of his room and plops down, and pinches the bridge of her nose.

 

“Yep!”

 

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me.” She moves to rub her temples, but the Doctor throws back the curtain and appears in the outfit.

 

“This is the one.” He grins at her. She looks up to him, and he's radiating pure joy, how he can be this happy with clothes, she will never know.

 

“Doctor?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“You need shoes” She smiles and starts laughing when he realizes that he does, in fact, need shoes and runs to some other corner of the store and then runs right back with a pair of black combat boots in his hands.

 

“How 'bout these?” The smile is still on her face, and he can't get over how beautiful it looks on her, how happy and radiant she is, and all wants is to see her this way for the rest of their time together however short that may be.

 

“Yeah, I think those will do just fine.” She's practically glowing, and then something clicks in his head.

 

“When did you start calling me Doctor?” Her smile fades, and her face is emotionless.

 

“What?”

 

“You've called me Doctor at least twice now.” He slips the shoes on and ties them up impossibly fast.

 

“I guess since you were honest with me.” He grins his eye touching grin, and she can't help but smile back at him.

 

She loved him. He was a genuine person to be around, happy, and with his grin, all he made you want to do was smile. And, in a small sort of way, she loved him. Loved him like you would love a friend.

 

“You ready?” She asks standing up and reaching into a coat pocket to try and find her wallet, and they make their way to the front.

 

“You find everything okay?” The man at the register asks and rings up the prices from the tags. They nod, not speaking a word. “Ten dollars.” She pulls a twenty out of her pocket and lays it on the counter.

  
  
“Keep the change.” She pulls him out the door and right back into the rain. “Skies are still purple, Doctor. Have any more hunches?” He looks up to the sky and just stares, and then quickly checks his pockets, feeling for something.

 

“Oh, baby!” He pulls out a metal reflex hammer and kisses it.

 

“What are you doing with a reflex hammer, plan to hit people and see if their legs work?” She's confused again, and it's written across her face, but the way she delivered her statement causes him to laugh, and she chuckles awkwardly.

 

“It's a sonic screwdriver.” He holds it up to her, and it starts buzzing.

  
  
“Right okay, if it's a screwdriver, why does it look like a reflex hammer?”

 

“Oi! It does not.” She snorts, and he leans his head to the side.

 

“You sure 'bout that?”

 

“Maybe a little.” She nods still smiling, and he's still unable to get over her smile. “You should smile more; it suits you.”

 

“Right.”

 

“It does!”

 

“Can we get back to the matter at hand?” He nods and paces back and forth trying to process what little has happened so far.

 

“Has anything weird happened in the last week or so?” He rubs the side of his face, but nothing comes to him.

 

“We had a meteor shower a few days ago, even had one land out in the mountains, but that's not unusual, really.” He stops pacing and closes the distance between them, and towers over her once again.

 

“Take me to it.” She meets his eyes and then looks away, he's slightly intimidating, especially his eyes.

  
  
“We have to go back and get my car; it's a fairly long drive.”

 

“Fantastic! Better get running then!” And he starts to run back the way they came, and she chases after him. He seemed a few years older than her, and how he managed to have this much energy, it was beyond her.

 


End file.
